My Uncle Clark emailed me this week regarding a couple of counties in West Texas that were on a 19th century map of the Texas & Pacific Railway displayed in his office. It seems these two counties, Foley and Buchel, don't exist anymore! This was news to me. It had not occured to me that there were, at one time, more counties in Texas than the current 254. Wow. I "googled" Foley County, Texas and discovered this map, among other information:

The 1895 Rand McNally Texas map showing Foley and Buchel Counties.

Here's what I learned from the Texas Escapes website, Ghost Counties of Texas: "Buchel and Foley County were both formed in March of 1887 from Presidio County. They were born together and both were annexed to Brewster County in 1897. A bill was passed to dissolve the counties, but Governor Charles Culberson never signed the papers. Nevertheless, the bill passed without the governor’s signature and the two counties were absorbed by Brewster County; making it the largest county in Texas."Well, if there were 2 additional Texas counties I didn't know about, could there be more?The answer is yes! All total, there were "at least thirty-two counties that were established by Texas law no longer exist. These defunct counties fall into five categories: (1) judicial counties; (2) counties established by declaration of the Constitutional Convention of 1868–69; (3) counties established by legislative act but never organized and later abolished by legislative act; (4) counties established outside the present boundaries of Texas; and (5) counties whose names have been changed." "DEFUNCT COUNTIES," Handbook of Texas Online

Encinal County, Texas, established 1856 and abolished 1899. Now part of Webb County.

According to the Handbook of Texas Online, the 32 defunct counties, by category, are:"The judicial counties were Burleson, Burnet, DeWitt, Guadalupe, Hamilton, La Baca, Madison, Menard, Neches, Panola, Paschal, Smith, Spring Creek, Trinity, Ward, and Waco."The Constitutional Convention of 1868–69, by declaration, attempted to organize Delta, Richland, Webster, and Latimer counties."The five counties authorized by the legislature but never organized were Buchel, Dawson, Encinal, Foley, and Wegefarth."Counties established outside the present boundaries of Texas were Greer, Worth, and Santa Fe, which were formed in areas that became parts of Oklahoma and New Mexico."Counties that were established under one name or functioned for a time under one name but have a different name at present include: Harrisburg County (changed to Harris County in 1839); Navasoto County (changed to Brazos County in 1842); Davis County (changed from Cass County in 1861 and back to Cass County in 1871); Buchanan County (changed to Stephens County in 1861); and Cibolo County (changed from Wilson to Cibolo and then back to Wilson County).""DEFUNCT COUNTIES," Handbook of Texas OnlineHere's a map of Wegefarth and Greer Counties.Greer County still exists, by the way. It's now in Oklahoma.

The text of the Greer County (Texas) historical marker explains it all:"Created 1860; until 1896, one of largest counties in Texas. Organized at Old Mobeetie, northwest of here. In 1880s settlement was rapid; by 1892 nearly 2,500 pupils were in county's schools. A post office, jail and many houses were built, and over 60,000 cattle grazed the 3,480 square miles of the county's area. But for a half-century (1846-1896) the United States and Texas waged a heated dispute over Greer County. Controversy had origin in an 1819 treaty fixing the line between United States and Spanish territory. A map designating the Red River and 100th meridian as boundary lines was part of treaty; but map aroused dispute, for it incorrectly marked 100th meridian and showed only one fork of two-forked Red River. Texas claimed the North Fork and meridian shown on map defined territory, and legislation and occupancy by Texans decided sovereignty. United States contended South Fork (larger of the two) and true 100th meridian marked boundaries. Three joint survey commissions failed to settle the issue. The U.S. Supreme Court in 1896 ruled that the region was in 1819 part of the Union and thus, was actually part of Oklahoma. Named for John A. Greer, Senator, Secretary of State, Republic of Texas; Lieutenant Governor, 1847-1853."

Interesting. Oklahoma has a Texas County! On the other hand, Texas doesn't have an Oklahoma County. Good to know.

This is off-subject, but interesting. From Wikipedia:Texas County is a county located in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. Texas County was formed at Oklahoma statehood (16 November 1907) from the central one-third of "Old Beaver County" also known as "No Man's Land". When the formation of the county was authorized by the Constitutional Convention of 1907, the county was so named because it was wholly included within the limits of the Texas Cession of 1850, whereby the ownership of the area was passed from the State of Texas to the United States Government. From 1850 to 1890, its lands were never attached to any state or territory, never surveyed, and never divided into townships and sections. From 1890 to 1907, it was part of Beaver County.

"EDINBURG, Jan. 19 - A new county courthouse for Hidalgo County would definitely be built in Edinburg, County Judge Ramon Garcia told the Guardian on Wednesday. “ 'It is going to be Edinburg. It makes no sense to move it anywhere else. We have already invested over $30 million in buildings and properties in surrounding areas. What are we going to do with them? No, it is going to be Edinburg,' Garcia said."In an earlier blog post, I discussed the problem: the current Hildalgo County courthouse is too small and outdated for this rapidly growing population of this south Texas county. "In a power point presentation by Eli Ochoa, president and CEO of ERO Architects, the new courthouse was positioned in the parking lot opposite the current courthouse. Brian Godinez, one of the principals in the courthouse master plan project, told the Guardian that a new courthouse, measuring 289,000 square feet, would likely be eight stories high. The current construction costs for the new courthouse are estimated to be $55 million."There's also the issue of what to do with the existing "international style" courthouse.According to the article, "Wednesday’s meeting also included discussion on whether the current county courthouse, which was built in the 1950s, could be demolished. Committee members were told the current courthouse is listed as an historic site and that getting approval to tear it down is next to impossible. 'The Texas Historical Commission has already made us aware that it would be a violation of state law for us to tear it down so we are not even going to get involved in that. We are going to work towards remodeling it and renovating it,' Garcia said."Thank goodness the State of Texas now has a statutory means of "preserving" county courthouses! Even the so-called modern courthouse buildings should be maintained in the interest of historic continuity. Stay tuned for the Hidalgo County story...

This Hidalgo County courthouse was demolished. That is why the State of Texas now protects ALL of our "historic" courthouses.

The 254 Texas counties perform many functions. According to the Texas Association of Counties website Texas Counties 4U"County governments provide the underlying infrastructure—the glue—that enables Texans to live productive lives in harmony with each other. As the functional arm of state government, key county services include support of public safety and jails, effective regional transportation, support for the court system, reliable record-keeping for deeds and public documents, operating elections and certain environmental, health and human services."Since the focus of my website is the county courthouse, I'm going to share with you how the 254 counties "support the court system" in Texas. The website Texas Courts Online is an excellent site for general and detailed information about the Texas state court system.Use this LINK to access a pdf of the document Court Structure of Texas for a flow chart overview of the court system. Another useful document is The Texas Judicial System, found in pdf format at this LINK. The following information comes from that document:As provided in the Texas Constitution, each of the 254 counties of the State has a single county court presided over by a county judge. In addition to performing judicial functions, the county judge serves as the administrative head of the county government. In the more populated counties, the administrative duties occupy most of the time of the county judge, and the Legislature has created county courts at law and statutory probate courts to relieve the county judge of most, and in some cases all, of the judicial duties usually performed by that office.Because the Constitution limits each county to a single countycourt, the Legislature has created statutory county courts at law in the larger counties to aid the single county court in its judicial functions.The district courts are the trial courts of general jurisdiction of Texas. The geographical area served by each court is established by the Legislature, but each county must be served by at least one district court. In sparsely populated areas of the State, several counties may be served by a single district court, while an urban county may be served by many district courts. District courts have original jurisdiction in all felony criminal cases, divorce cases, cases involving title to land, election contest cases, civil matters in which the amount in controversy (the amount of money or damages involved) is $200 or more, and any matters in which jurisdiction is not placed in another trial court. While most district courts try both criminal and civil cases, in the more densely populated counties the courts may specialize in civil, criminal, juvenile, or family law matters.As of January 1, 2012, Texas had 456 District Courts. Of those 456 Districts, 359 served a single county and 97 Districts covered more than one county. For example, Loving County (population 82) is part of the 143rd District Court, based in Monahans, seat of Ward County. The 143rd District Court covers 3 counties: Loving, Reeves and Ward.At the other end of the scale, Harris County (population 4,092,459) is home to 59 District Courts, each of which serve only Harris County.The bottom line is this: each of the 254 Texas counties has a single Constitutional County Court. In the smallest (population) counties, that's it. So those little courthouses in counties like Loving don't have a District Courtroom, but they do have a Constitutional County Courtroom. And, large (population) counties like Harris have to construct multiple buildings to house all of their District and Statutory County Courts. As the population of Texas grows (it's over 25 million and counting) expect to see even more District Courts created and therefore, more county court buildings designed and constructed to contain the new courtrooms and offices. See Fort Bend County for a good example.

Photo courtesy Bexar County Sheriff's Department (Hats available in most San Antonio gift shops)

"Five French citizens arrested at the Bexar County Courthouse early Wednesday were partiers, not terrorists, local and federal investigators concluded after questioning the men and searching their vehicle."All five now face burglary charges. They were caught after a silent alarm alerted authorities at about 1 a.m. that someone was using one of the historic building's fire escapes."As they wandered the halls for about 30 minutes, police and sheriff's deputies surrounded the building, Sheriff Amadeo Ortiz said."They were arrested as they left the courthouse. Two others were taken into custody outside, and the fifth was arrested at the group's rented recreational vehicle, which was parked nearby.“We found a bottle of cold beer up in the courtroom, so we know they had been having a partying time,” Ortiz said. “It's very likely these individuals were just intoxicated. They may have not even known what this building was.”Read more: http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local_news/article/Officials-say-break-in-at-courthouse-was-not-2225724.php#ixzz1itpyyHxHIt looks like I have company in my Texas courthouses project. I never imagined that the French were interested in our Texas courthouse heritage. And, that they would travel in groups of 5 in a recreational vehicle, drinking beer and wearing sombreros!If anyone else has noticed any French-looking people "casing" our courthouses please contact the authorities. I, for one, will keep my eyes open from now on.

Rules are made to be broken, correct? First day of the new year and I've already broken my self-imposed courthouse break. It is a beautiful, sunny, mild day in Houston so I put down the top on my car and drove down US 59 to Richmond, seat of Fort Bend County. I assembled the Fort Bend County page just yesterday, but now it's so "last year." Regardless, I wanted to photograph the newly completed Fort Bend County Justice Center and related structures. I also decided to make a second visit to the historic courthouse in downtown Richmond. Frankly, my learning curve on this project is causing me to re-visit most of the counties I photographed in 2009 and 2010. At this rate I'll have to change the website to "508TexasCourthouses!" Anyhow, back to Fort Bend County. The historic courthouse was enlarged in 1935 and 1957. In 1988 a 7 story courthouse annex was constructed across the street from the historic courthouse. Numerous other county building were added over the years, but the population of this Houston suburb just keeps growing and so, in 2006, voters approved a bond issue for a huge new Justice Center, along with a County Jail and other Sheriff Offices.The site for these new facilities in about a mile or so southeast of the historic courthouse in downtown Richmond.Here's a photograph taken today:

On the left is the new County Jail. The Justice Center is to the right.

This sign is posted on the public entrance of the historic courthouse.By the way, Ransom Road is not spelled with an "e." Not that it's called Ransom Road anymore. The street signs now call it Williams Way Blvd. The new county facilities face the Brazos River on the east. Between the Justice Center and the river is a state archeological landmark: the site of the home of Mirabeau B. Lamar on the west bank of the Brazos.Lamar's house is long gone, but the scenic view remains (see below).Given the historic importance of the Brazos River to Texas, it's a shame that the river today is virtually ignored as it passes through Richmond. The new US 59 (10 lanes wides) crossing of the Brazos is accomplished without a visible "bridge." If you didn't know it was there, you'd never know you'd just crossed the river. Yet, it was on the banks of the Brazos that Fort Bend began.

Here's the Fort Bend County press release, May 20, 2011, announcing the dedication of the new, 274,000 square foot, $73 million Justice Center:Fort Bend County, TX- Fort Bend County Commissioners Court joined by numerous other Elected Officials "cut the ribbon" yesterday at the new Fort Bend County Justice Center in Richmond, TX. During ceremonies, the Fort Bend Color Guard presented the flags of the United States, Texas and Fort Bend County. Following the Ribbon Cutting Ceremony, employees were given an exclusive "sneak peak" of the new facility. County Judge Bob Hebert stated, "This is a beautiful, well designed building, completed ahead of schedule and under budget. Once we complete the move-in I believe our citizens will be well-pleased with their new justice center."JE Dunn Construction served as the General Contractor for the project and Pierce, Goodwin, Alexander & Linville (PGAL) served as the county's Design Professional. The Justice Center was designed to offer the flexibility of phasing in courtrooms over time as the population and judicial needs continue to grow. The new Justice Center includes 18 courtrooms, District Clerk Offices, County Clerk offices, Grand Jury Space, Bailiff Area, Law Library, District Attorney offices, a new and much improved Jury Assembly and a tunnel connecting the facility to the Fort Bend County Jail. For the first time in many years, an adjacent parking garage will provide adequate parking space for those visiting the Justice Center. County Departments will move in the weekend of July 1-4, 2011 and opening day for the public is on July 5, 2011. A Grand Opening Ceremony for the public will take place mid-August once all of the departments have the opportunity to adapt to their new space. Although the departments that are moving will have a new physical address, their mailing address, phone and fax numbers will all remain the same!

Author

Leonard G. Lane, Jr., AIAleonardlane@gmail.comI wasn't born in Texas but I got here as soon as I could. I'm an architect. And, a photographer on the side.I live in Houston, with my wife, Donna. Our favorite daughter, Hilary, recently passed the Texas Bar exam. She took the oath as an attorney in the historic Harris County courthouse on Friday, November 15, 2013.